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NANCY GRACE

Two Young Phoenix Women Found Strangled; Pregnant Woman and Roommate Strangled to Death; Missing Boy`s Mom Alleged Confession

Aired December 16, 2010 - 20:00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight, live, Phoenix. A beautiful 27-year-old waiting to give her mother the best Christmas present ever, a baby grandchild. But just before the surprise announcement, she and her 27-year-old roommate both attacked and murdered in their own home, both ligature strangulations. No forced entry. Doors locked.

Bombshell tonight. We obtain a portion of that 911 call. What does it reveal?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: Phoenix 911. Where is your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just came over to my friend`s house, and she`s not answering the door. And I went around to the back and I just seen someone laying there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Heart-breaking words for these families to hear, a 911 call made by their daughters` friend, the woman who found their lifeless bodies inside this Phoenix home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nicole Glass and Melissa Mason were found murdered in their home in December 3rd.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Their bodies showing obvious signs of trauma.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re going to be looking at every angle, every aspect of this to determine what might be the motive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Going through her things, I found this. It was her pregnancy test.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Melissa was eight weeks pregnant. Police say the two young women were strangled to death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: And tonight, a stunning 23-year-old mom takes off from her Tempe, Arizona, home by car for a thousand-mile road trip with this beautiful 8-month-old baby boy, Gabriel. Days later, cops find Mommy, Miami Beach. No baby.

Breaking tonight. As Mommy brags the entire case against her will be thrown out, she confesses she smothered baby Gabriel, conceals him in a dufflebag and throws him into a dumpster. And tonight, it`s all caught on tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOGAN MCQUEARY, FATHER: Where are you? And where`s Gabriel?

ELIZABETH JOHNSON, MOTHER: Gabriel is in a dumpster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Disturbing clues in the desperate search for baby Gabriel.

JOHNSON: Elizabeth Johnson, 7-24-`86.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A new reminder that 10-month-old Gabriel Johnson is still missing.

JOHNSON: I killed him this morning.

MCQUEARY: No, you didn`t.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He believes Elizabeth Johnson did not hurt her baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want her to be honest.

JOHNSON: You were going to take the only thing I had left. You wanted to take from me. You wanted to make me miserable. So find some new girl to make your new baby.

I don`t really know what to say, but everything is so false.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think about it every single day, whether he`s dead or alive.

JOHNSON: You made me do this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I asked her, Where is he? And she said that...

JOHNSON: I suffocated him and he turned blue. I put him in a diaper bag.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Put him in a diaper bag, put him in the dumpster.

JOHNSON: You destroyed my life.

MCQUEARY: I haven`t destroyed anything.

JOHNSON: Yes, you have, Logan. You made me kill my baby boy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight, live, Phoenix. A beautiful 27-year-old waiting to give her own mother the best Christmas present ever, a baby grandchild. But before she can make that surprise announcement, she and her 27-year-old roommate both attacked and murdered in their own home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will never be able to put my arms around my daughter again and tell her how much I love her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Melissa Mason and Nicole Glass were killed December 3rd. Police say they were strangled with some type of cord. There were no signs of forced entry. A friend stopping by found their bodies on the floor.

911 OPERATOR: Phoenix 911. Where is your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just came over to my friend`s house, and she`s not answering the door. And I went around to the back and I just seen someone laying there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police confirm that Melissa Mason was eight weeks pregnant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is their schedule? Who are their friends? Where do they go to? What -- who do they meet? So we look into all of that to determine if, in fact, any of that victimology can help us narrow down who our suspect is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My statement to the murderers is, May God have mercy on your soul.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Going through her things, I found this. It was her pregnancy test. And that breaks my heart because not only they took her life, but they also took my unborn grandbaby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls live. First out to Christina Estes, reporter with Newstalk KFYI, joining us out of Phoenix. What do you know, Christina?

CHRISTINA ESTES, NEWSTALK KFYI: Well, these two women were found by a friend who had gone to their home, knocked on the door, didn`t get an answer. She tried opening the door. It was locked. So she went around to the back of the house, looked through a window, and that`s when she found both of the women laying on the floor.

GRACE: So she could see both of them -- from what I`m gleaning, from what you said, Christina Estes, is they were both in the same room on the floor?

ESTES: Yes. She looked through the window and reported seeing both of them there. And obviously, she called the cops right away when she saw them. Police showed up. And what was really interesting, what really stood out was that the door was locked. So whoever got inside that house locked the door on their way out.

GRACE: Locked the door, but yet left the bodies in plain view through the window. Now, Christina, are you saying the person had to walk around to the back, however, in order to see the two bodies?

ESTES: Right. And I don`t know the exact layout of the house. I don`t know exactly where in the house they were. But she did say that she looked through a window, and that`s where she saw them. So she obviously called 911 right away and reported it.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Out to Nicole Partin, investigative reporter. Nicole, what more do you know about the case?

NICOLE PARTIN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER (via telephone): Good evening, Nancy. Police now are calling this a triple homicide, as both young 27- year-old women were found deceased. We have also learned that Melissa Mason, eight weeks pregnant. We`ve learned that they died of ligature strangulation. No signs of forced entry. Authorities are up against a wall. No leads, no suspects at this point.

GRACE: What do we know about the women themselves? I know one, obviously, was pregnant and waiting to make the announcement at Christmas to her mom that she was going to be a grandmother. She never got to make that announcement. Thus a triple homicide. What do we know, Matt Zarrell?

MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: ... worked at clubs in the Phoenix area as bartenders. They also waited tables. Cops are looking into whether that has any role in this, whether someone was watching them, harassing them at work. Another thing, Nancy, is they are saying that they believe that both roommates were killed sometime after 8:00 PM the night before. And the roommates were found around noon the following day, which just leaves a few hours for that murder to happen, Nancy.

GRACE: So they both worked at the same restaurant bar?

ZARRELL: Yes, they did.

GRACE: Now, that to me is a big lead. Also, let me go to special guest, Sergeant Steve Martos with the Phoenix PD media relations. Sergeant, thank you for being with us. Sergeant, who is the daddy of the baby?

SGT. STEVE MARTOS, PHOENIX POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, that`s going to be Melissa`s boyfriend. Obviously, at this point, we don`t want to name him. But he`s certainly been cooperative with our detectives, certainly providing some information to us that we hope will be useful in this investigation.

GRACE: When was the last time he saw her?

MARTOS: I believe he saw her the day before, as did, I believe, some other friends that had also spoken both to Nicole and Melissa the evening before this incident.

GRACE: How far along was she, Sergeant?

MARTOS: Well, according to our medical examiner`s office, we believe that she was approximately eight weeks pregnant.

GRACE: To Dr. Joshua Perper, chief medical examiner in Broward County, joining us out of Miami. His latest book, "When Doctors Kill." Dr. Perper, thank you for being with us. How can you just look at the fetus and determine the age?

DR. JOSHUA PERPER, CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER, BROWARD COUNTY: Well, you basically measure the length of the fetus. There`s a certain chart from the length of the fetus that you can say what is the estimated day (INAUDIBLE)

GRACE: So I`m understanding -- back to you, Sergeant Steve Martos -- Sergeant Martos joining us from the Phoenix PD -- that the father, the biological father of the baby has been ruled out?

MARTOS: Well, you know, we`re careful to not necessarily say that. And I will say he`s been cooperative, certainly assisted with this investigation. But because we don`t have any leads at this point, we certainly don`t want to rule anybody out. So this investigation will continue.

GRACE: What can you tell me about the layout of the home?

MARTOS: Well, really, what we have, from what I understand of the home, is the front entryway was locked. The door was locked. Our witness who called police went to the back yard area of this house, looked into a back window, and was able to see into, like, the living room area where both victims were found.

GRACE: So the killer locked the doors behind him?

MARTOS: Well, again, there was no signs of forced entry. We had to force entry. When police officers arrived on scene, they had to force entry into the home. So yes, all the doors were locked.

GRACE: So he locked the doors -- I`m saying he because who else other than a man could execute a ligature strangulation on two women? Were they tied up, Sergeant?

MARTOS: Well, I won`t get into that. But I will say, just as a correction, I don`t want to necessarily narrow this down to simply just a male because, again, we want to keep all our options open.

GRACE: You didn`t say it, Sergeant, I did. And I`m simply using common sense. Now, if the Phoenix PD wants to divert or somehow throw common sense out the window, that`s fine with me. I`m just saying that you got a mom who`s fighting not only for her life but for her unborn child. I don`t think another woman is going to be able to subdue her and a roommate and succeed in a ligature strangulation.

I mean, come on! Let`s just put it out there. Pat Brown, you`re the criminal profiler. How often do you see a woman execute a ligature strangulation? All right, Pat. You`re on the hot seat.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: I`m sorry to say, but yes, I know a case in Virginia where a woman...

GRACE: I know of one case.

BROWN: ... killed an eight-month pregnant woman...

GRACE: My question was...

BROWN: How often?

GRACE: ... how many times? Yes, that`s my question.

BROWN: Not very often. Yes, most of the time...

GRACE: No, no, no, no, no!

BROWN: ... it is a male who does it.

GRACE: No, no! No!

BROWN: Yes.

GRACE: No, no! It`s not just not very often.

BROWN: No, most of the time. I said most of the time!

GRACE: It`s hardly ever! I can always count on you for an obscure case out in the middle of nowhere.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: There is! That`s why you have to...

GRACE: But what I`m saying is...

BROWN: ... keep an open mind.

GRACE: ... it`s extremely rare. And I`m not trying to determine what may have happened, I`m trying to determine what probably happened.

BROWN: I agree with you for what probably happened. I absolutely agree that is most likely a male. But you know...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: I am looking at two dead bodies, the dead fetus of an unborn child. Look at these roommates, absolutely beautiful, both dead, ligature strangulation. The killer locks the door behind him. Two questions. Why? And who?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say they`re investigating every lead. Friends say Melissa Mason, or Beebee (ph), as they called her, was a waitress and bartender. They say her roommate, Nicole Glass, was a student. Many just hope police can make an arrest soon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They`re going to be greatly missed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: Phoenix 911. Where is your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just came over to my friend`s house, and she`s not answering the door. And I went around to the back and I just seen someone laying there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone knows something about these murders, but no one is coming forward.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was around noon when two women were found dead inside, their bodies showing obvious signs of trauma.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a little shocking to hear that, you know, we have a dual homicide in our neighborhood.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a friend who found the two after peeking in a window when they didn`t answer. There door was locked. When police arrived, they had to force their way in. And they say there were no obvious signs of a break-in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who and why someone murdered their friends is still a mystery.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do hope that if they have a heart, that they can see how -- how this has affected us. Our lives will never be the same.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These two mothers will do whatever it takes to find the person or people who killed their daughters. Nicole Glass and Melissa Mason were found murdered in their home on December 3rd. Police say the two young women were strangled to death. Melissa was eight weeks pregnant, planning to share the good news with her family on Christmas. Three lives lost that day, two families torn apart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Out to Meghan in Illinois. Hi, Meghan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. It`s so good to talk to you! I wondered if the other girl, Nicole -- if she had a boyfriend.

GRACE: Good question. What do we know, Christina Estes?

ESTES: I`m not sure about that. All I`ve received from the Phoenix police is that the father of Melissa`s unborn baby has been very cooperative. So Sergeant Martos might be able to answer that as far as a man in the life of Nicole.

GRACE: What do we know, Sergeant Martos?

MARTOS: Well, at this point, we don`t know if she had any -- a steady boyfriend or anything of that nature. So nothing steady.

GRACE: OK, I assume, Sergeant, you`ve gotten their computers, their cell phones, their BlackBerries, all of that, right?

MARTOS: You bet. We`ve collected a lot of evidence from the scene. Absolutely.

GRACE: Well, if you can`t find a boyfriend from a cell phone or a BlackBerry, there`s not one because you`re going to have e-mails, texts. I don`t care where they are in the world, there`s going to be a text. There`s going to be a photo, something. So if that`s not established yet, then he doesn`t exist.

I want to go back out to Nicole Partin. Nicole, I find it very interesting that both women lived in the same place, both women worked in the same restaurant bar. So you got the problem of not only a neighborhood freak, but also someone that has observed them at this restaurant. You know, of course, you start with the boyfriend, husband, ex, live-in. They`ve done that. Now they`re moving out. But you`ve got the neighborhood pool and you`ve got the work pool.

PARTIN: Absolutely, Nancy. And you have this question of no sign of forced entry. So was this someone they knew, someone they were familiar with, someone they felt comfortable allowing into their home? We`re also hearing from former employers, friends, family members, co-workers that both of these girls were very loving, very generous, had absolutely no known enemies. And we really couldn`t find anybody to say anything negative about either one of them -- outgoing, loving, both beautiful girls, just trying to better themselves and have a great life.

GRACE: Joining me right now is a special guest. Rachel Glass is with us. This is the mother of victim Nicole Glass, just 27 years old at the time of her death. Ms. Glass, thank you for being with us.

RACHEL GLASS, MOTHER OF VICTIM (via telephone): Thank you.

GRACE: Everyone, the tip line tonight, 480-WITNESS -- 480-948-6377. Ms. Glass, what can you tell us about your girl, Nicole?

GLASS: She was awesome. She was really a strong girl. She used to work out every day about two hours. She did yoga. She ran on the treadmill. So I`m just -- I`m just taken back with -- it just seems surreal. There`s no words to express my grief, you know?

GRACE: Ms. Glass, I am so, so sorry. From those of us that have lost someone we love to murder, I just hate it so bad for you. What you`re telling me is a description of a vibrant, loving young lady.

GLASS: Oh, yes.

GRACE: And also, somebody that was so into their physical health is not going to be all tangled up with drugs and alcohol. I mean, that`s -- I`m on the outside looking in, but when you see health nuts, I mean, working out two hours a day, this is not some drug deal gone bad or some BS like that. A lot of people would like to infer that. But no, I don`t see that here. Not at all. Not that you`ve described her in this way.

GLASS: Correct.

GRACE: Did she have a boyfriend, Ms. Glass?

GLASS: No, she -- she dated a few people. But she told me that she had a proposal that she was thinking about accepting. And I did not know this person. She -- you know, her friends were getting married and having children, and she -- her and I had a heart-to-heart talk. And she said, You know, Mom, I just think it`s time that -- you know, I`ve had some proposals and -- you know, she was thinking about maybe settling down and getting married and starting a family. She wanted a family.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: Phoenix 911. Where is your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just came over to my friend`s house, and she`s not answering the door. And I went around to the back and I just seen someone laying there.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just can`t believe that they`re gone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Outside the Phoenix home where two women were found murdered.

911 OPERATOR: Phoenix 911. Where is your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just came over to my friend`s house, and she`s not answering the door. And I went around to the back and I just seen someone laying there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And many who know these two ladies believe this murder was not random. In fact, they believe it was very personal and that whoever is finally arrested was trying to send a message.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I truly believe it was somebody they knew.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will that someone who knows something help them catch a killer?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Two young ladies, beautiful, vibrant, one a mother-to-be, the other mulling marriage and family -- no more. Both strangled, ligature strangulation in their own home, the killer locking the door behind him when he leaves.

I want to go out now to our next caller, Fred in Michigan. Hi, Fred.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Nancy. I was just wondering, what floor were these women found in? Were they on the first floor? And what room?

GRACE: Good question. I want to go back to Sergeant Steve Martos, Phoenix Police Department. Sergeant, what room were they in when they were murdered?

MARTOS: This is in the living room area of the home. And this is a single-level home.

GRACE: So when we say the doors were locked, what about the windows, Sergeant?

MARTOS: Yes, again, no sign of forced entry whatsoever.

GRACE: Do you have a time of death?

MARTOS: Well, we have a timeframe. Again, some this goes back to when people last spoke to them and when they were last seen, obviously. It was from 8:00 PM the night before, on December 2nd, to about 12:30 in the afternoon on December 3rd.

GRACE: Oh, man, oh, Manischewitz! You got a big window there, Sergeant.

MARTOS: Yes, we do.

GRACE: I`m not blaming you, I`m just saying that`s a big window to work with.

MARTOS: You know, I think more than anything else, Nancy, I think somebody knows between those times what may have occurred, what these ladies were doing at the time, somebody else who may have seen them. So somebody out there has some information for us.

GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. High-profile lawyer, Seattle, Anne Bremner. Renowned attorney Alex Sanchez, defense attorney, New York. Anne Bremner, we`re talking about Phoenix. They`ve got the DP, Anne. Now, before `92, as I recall, you had a choice how you wanted to be put to death. You could take the gas chamber or the needle. Now that menu has been shortened. You only get the needle. And this is death-penalty qualified. You`ve got mass murder, more than one body. That`s the death penalty.

ANNE BREMNER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It is. And the biggest (INAUDIBLE) circus (ph) case out there is out of Arizona, Ring (ph) versus Arizona. And it solidified, that`s it, end of story, DP.

GRACE: And of course, Alex, they`re not afraid to do it. Once they promise it, they`ll do it. The last death penalty was just in October, Jeffrey Landergen (ph).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Phoenix 911, where is your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I came over to my friend`s house, and she`s not answering the door. And I went around the back, and I see someone laying there.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Heartbreaking words for these families to hear. A 911 call made by their daughter`s friend. The woman who found their lifeless bodies inside this Phoenix home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse me.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Nicole Glass and Melissa Mason were found murdered in their home on December 3rd.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Their bodies showing obvious signs of trauma.

SERGEANT STEVE MARTOS, PHOENIX POLICE DEPT., MEDIA RELATIONS: We`re going to be looking at every angle, every aspect of this, to determine what might be the motive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Going through her things, I found this. It`s her pregnancy test.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Melissa was eight weeks pregnant. Police say the two young women were strangled to death.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will never be able to put my arms around my daughter again and tell her how much I love her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our lives will never be the same. And I`m just hoping that they found whoever did this to them, because they didn`t deserve it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My statement to the murders is may God have mercy on your soul.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY GRACE, HOST: We are taking your calls.

To Dr. Jeff Gardere, psychologist and contributor at Healthguru.com.

Doctor Jeff, I think it was pretty bold for someone to take on not one but two grown women. One of them, I know for a fact, is a health nut.

JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST, CONTRIBUTOR TO HEALTHGURU.COM: Exactly. And Nicole Glass works out. Very strong. I really wonder, there`s a pattern here. We have two beautiful girls, both extremely kind to others. Possibility of being exposed to some seedy characters because they work in a restaurant/bar.

And whether -- whomever did this had a vendetta, unrequited love or sex for one of them, and perhaps strangled that one, and then other roommate walked in. We can only guess at this point.

But I think there is a profile here that these young women were very giving and someone was rageful at them for whatever reason. Rageful at one or both.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Out to Janet in Florida. Hi, Janet.

JANET, CALLER FROM FLORIDA: Hi, Nancy. I was wondering about the timeline. I think you said that the women were killed the night before they were found between 8:00 and 12:30? Is that right?

GRACE: Yes, let me run back over that.

Sergeant Steve Martos, give me the timeline one more time. Hold Janet on the phone. Go ahead, Martos, please.

MARTOS: Yes, our timeline really is, from the last time somebody had actually spoken to both our victims was at 8:00 in the evening. They were then found at 12:00 in the afternoon the next morning. So --

GRACE: And it was a co-worker that went looking for them, or a friend?

MARTOS: It was a friend that went looking for them and found them.

GRACE: OK. Did they have an appointment with the friend? Had they not shown up -- so were they not answering their phone? Why did the friend feel they had to go over there and then walk to the back and look in the window?

MARTOS: Well, it`s my understanding that this friend would pop in from time to time and just stop in to visit both these victims. And when she didn`t receive an answer at the door, after some time, thought, well, you know, I`ll go to the back and see if I can get somebody`s attention from the back window or the back door.

It wasn`t until she got to the back that she looked in the window and saw them both inside.

GRACE: Do both victims have their own vehicle and were the vehicles parked at the home?

MARTOS: Vehicles were at the house. Yes.

GRACE: Which would lead someone to think, why aren`t they answering the door.

I want to go back to Christina Estes joining us from Newstalk KFYI. For those viewers just joining us, give me a recap, Christina.

CHRISTINA ESTER, REPORTER, NEWSTALK KFYI: Sure, the friend that Sergeant Martos was referring to went over to the house where Melissa and Nicole lived. And tried knocking on the door. Didn`t get an answer. Pulled on the door, it was locked.

So went around back, and looked through a window, and found their bodies and called 911. And what was really stood out in this case, as opposed to some other murder cases that we`ve covered, is that the door was locked.

So a lot of people suspect that these women knew whoever killed them, because whoever killed them inside their home took the time to lock the door before leaving.

GRACE: To Matt Zarrell, our producer on the story.

Matt Zarrell, what other info can you give me? I don`t know whether police have released anything stolen, was there a sex attack. Was the house trashed? Do we know any other details?

MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE STAFFER, COVERING STORY: Well, I think, Nancy, that`s very interesting. The fact that police will not -- they won`t deny that anything was stolen. They won`t say if anything was stolen, makes you believe maybe possibly something was taken. We don`t have any confirmation of that.

Another big factor here is the item used for the ligature strangulation. We don`t believe that the cord or wire that was used to kill these two has been found yet. It will be interesting to see how they find it, how they connect it. Could they connect it to the killer?

GRACE: Which leads me to my next question. Sergeant Martos, why are you so convinced it`s a cord? Was the cord still on one of the bodies?

MARTOS: No, again, we`re not convinced of anything at this point. We haven`t released really what it was or how it was that these two young ladies were strangled. And again as you might know, Nancy, some of the reason for that is there is a suspect or suspects out there who knows what happens. And we don`t want to provide information out there that might jeopardize our case here later on in court so --

GRACE: OK. So are you saying it was or is not a cord?

MARTOS: What we`re saying at this point -- the only thing that we can confirm or verify is that both women were strangled.

GRACE: To Dr. Joshua Perper, chief medical examiner, Broward County. How can you tell the markings of a ligature strangulation versus a manual -- or by hand strangulation?

DR. JOSHUA PERPER, MEDICAL EXAMINER, AUTHOR OF "WHEN DOCTORS KILL": Well, ligature strangulation is associated with a groove decompression in the neck which can reproduce to some extent the path of -- the plated pattern of a cord.

Second, it is a horizontal mark, while if it`s a manual strangulation, you may see on the neck bruises or evidence of fingernail. Either scratches from the victim that tries to escape or from the assailant who the compresses the neck. So it`s very easy to differentiate between the two.

GRACE: Out to the lines, back to Janet in Florida. There you have the timeline clarified.

Janet, did you have a question about the timeline? Or did you just want to hear it again?

JANET: No, my question was, I`m confused or I guess a little perplexed why two young girls aged 27 would not speak to anyone after 8:00 at night or go online or do anything after 8:00 p.m., and that`s -- they say --

GRACE: I find it very odd, too.

Sergeant Steve Martos, again, I`m just taking a leap here. I`m assuming that you have looked at cell phones, BlackBerrys, hard -- mainframe computers to determine whether or not any text or e-mails, phone calls made after 8:00 p.m. that evening?

MARTOS: We have and we continue to do so. It does take some time, Nancy. And some of the things as I said we`re looking for, from our timeline is people that we know that last spoke to both these young ladies.

GRACE: OK.

MARTOS: And when they were found so.

GRACE: So you haven`t gleaned all the computer evidence yet, that`s what I`m hearing?

MARTOS: Absolutely. We`re still working on a lot of evidence.

GRACE: All right . So you may be able to do narrow down that timeline. I bet you will after you review their cells and BlackBerrys.

Out to the lines, Marcus in Florida. Hi, Marcus.

MARCUS, CALLER FROM FLORIDA: Hi, Nancy. I was wondering why is everyone so convinced that this is a man who did this? I mean these are beautiful ladies. Do we think it could be a co-worker, some other lady that`s jealous?

GRACE: Hold Marcus. Jealous of what?

MARCUS: Jealous of the way they look?

GRACE: OK, Marcus, you`ve been watching way too many movies. All right? There are a lot of beautiful women in the world, they don`t just attack each other. OK?

No offense, Marcus, but that doesn`t even make any sense.

To Christina Estes, any knowledge of co-workers resentment or anger?

ESTES: Nothing that I`ve heard. In fact, quite the contrary, just a lot of positive comments about these two young women. A couple of days after they were discovered, there was a makeshift memorial created right outside the home, lots candles and flowers, and a large group showed up to just gather and to remember them, and to really pay tribute and to talk about what wonderful young women they were. And how they were just shocked that this happened.

GRACE: To Rob Martinelli, forensic criminologist, Martinelli Associates, L.A.

Ron, where do we go from here?

RON MARTINELLI, FORENSIC CRIMINOLOGIST, MARTINELLI & ASSOCIATES, JUSTICE & FORENSIC CONSULTANTS, INC.: Well, first of all, let`s keep in mind that we haven`t established clearly proprietary interests or the way the crime scene was manipulated. Specifically the doors.

We don`t know if those are self-locking doors or the suspect did lock the door. That would show some relationship to the crime.

The police are going to have to continue studying the victims and their backgrounds in order to create some sort of connection.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH JOHNSON, MOTHER: You made it impossible for me to have my own life. You made it impossible for me to have Gabriel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s a very real possibility that Elizabeth killed Gabriel.

LOGAN MCQUEARY, FATHER: Where are you? And where is Gabriel?

JOHNSON: Gabriel is in a dumpster.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She allegedly told her ex-boyfriend she killed the child.

MCQUEARY: She put in the text, I killed him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She killed him?

MCQUEARY: Yes.

JOHNSON: I killed him this morning.

MCQUEARY: No, you didn`t.

JOHNSON: You want to talk to girls, that`s the price you pay.

MCQUEARY: Once you`ve betrayed her trust or she thinks you did, she will not talk to you, won`t do anything for you. Never -- you know, that`s just how she is.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. We have been covering this from the very, very beginning, when there was still a search going on for baby Gabriel.

Remember, the mom, Elizabeth Johnson, takes off on a road trip, thousand- mile road trip, holes up in a motel over Christmas, then tells the dad she killed the baby. Nobody really knew whether they should take that with a box of salt or not.

She later says she was just trying to make him angry. She was mad, he was dating other women. But now does another confession emerge?

Out to Christina Estes, Newstalk KFYI. What do we know, Christina?

ESTES: Well, when you`re talking about confessions, there`s a little bit of a history here. We are told that once Elizabeth Johnson reportedly confessed via text to baby Gabriel`s father and then parts of the phone call that you just heard. In that phone call to him she said that she suffocated baby Gabriel, that she said she put him in a diaper bag and then in a trash can.

So there`s two time there. And then there is a third possibility. There was a police detective from San Antonio who traveled here to Phoenix to talk with Elizabeth Johnson in jail which is where she`s sitting. He spent hours with her until her attorneys got wind of it, and they broke that meeting up.

Right now her attorneys are trying to figure out exactly what she told that cop and they`re also asking a judge to force that detective to talk to them and also to drop this case.

GRACE: Let`s take a listen to the content of that confession.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCQUEARY: Where are you? And where is Gabriel?

JOHNSON: Gabriel is in a dumpster.

MCQUEARY: No, he`s not.

JOHNSON: You want to talk to girls, that`s the price you pay. I killed him this morning.

MCQUEARY: No, you didn`t.

JOHNSON: I couldn`t do it any more, I couldn`t do it alone. You made it impossible for me to have my own life. You made it impossible for me to have Gabriel. You were going to take the only thing I had left. You wanted to take from me. You wanted to make me miserable.

So find some new girl to make your new baby. Don`t you care about me? All you care about is Gabriel, and he`s gone now. You know what I`m capable of, and you pushed me anyway. You destroyed my life.

MCQUEARY: I haven`t destroyed anything.

JOHNSON: Yes, you have, Logan. You made me kill my baby boy. You made me do this.

MCQUEARY: You did not hurt Gabriel.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Elizabeth, give me a picture of baby Gabriel in full.

How dare she do this to her own baby. Angry because the bio dad was calling another woman or dating another woman or -- Ellie Jostad, what more do we know?

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, it sounds like the father wasn`t even going so far as dating another woman. He was just talking to other girls online on his Facebook page. And that`s apparently what set Elizabeth Johnson off.

GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Anne Bremner, Seattle. Alex Sanchez, New York.

Anne Bremner, if this doesn`t qualify for the death penalty, I don`t know what does.

ANNE BREMNER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, you`re completely right. But the fact is, she`s talked and she`s talked and she`s talked. But there`s no body. And she said so many different kinds of things.

GRACE: So? Are we supposed to give her a gold star because she not only murdered this baby?

BREMNER: No, god, no. There is no gold star.

GRACE: She hid his body.

BREMNER: No, there`s -- no, there`s no gold star for that. And you know a lot of times with criminals we don`t punish them, we give them publicity. But the fact is, she -- there`s no evidence, there`s no (INAUDIBLE), a body in this case, to connect to all these different things she`s saying.

GRACE: OK.

BREMNER: And Nancy, it was the same time -- it was the same time last year that you and I were talking about this case and her -- all the suspicions about her and the things that she was saying that were similar and inculpatory. And it`s no different today.

GRACE: Alex Sanchez, this isn`t the only confession she`s made. She`s apparently confessed to a cop, too. This isn`t the only time she`s confessed, Alex Sanchez. Just for a moment, Alex. Just for one minute, please.

You know I know you out of the courtroom, too. Just be honest for one minute. You don`t need a body to prosecute a case, Alex.

ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, you don`t need a body. But I don`t believe the police think that this child is dead. And I think they think that she was just making these states to create as much pain within the father as she possibly could. To keep him thinking, well, maybe the child -- maybe the child is dead.

And one other thing, Nancy. She`s not going to face the death penalty. Why? Because even if this is a death penalty state, she`s never been convicted of a crime before. And it appears that if she did do this, she was acting under some extreme emotional disturbance.

GRACE: Yes, hate.

SANCHEZ: So you`ve got to take that off the table. I`m sorry to say.

GRACE: No, neither had Scott Peterson, neither had the Menendez brothers. None of them had killed before. I could name you 50 killers who had never killed before --

SANCHEZ: Those were --

GRACE: -- and got the death penalty.

SANCHEZ: Those were real planners, those people like Scott Peterson. Don`t compare Scott Peterson to her.

GRACE: She was on the road for days. She sells all her belongings, she starts taunting the bio dad. In my book that`s planning.

What about it, Ron Martinelli?

MARTINELLI: Well, I think we need to pay a lot of attention to the conversation and the lack of emotion from both sides in that conversation. That conversation seems very short, concise and scripted.

GRACE: OK, what about it, Jeff Gardere?

GARDERE: This is a young woman who loved this guy more than she loved herself, and even worse, more than she loved her own baby. Either she`s guilty of killing him or she`s guilty of giving this child away to strangers.

Either way, it`s horrible and speaks to her emotional issues.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. There you see Elizabeth Johnson flanked by her lawyers and all of her well wishers. Long story short, Elizabeth Johnson now confessing to the murder of her baby boy, baby Gabriel.

My question is, when will she go to trial?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCQUEARY: Where are you? And where is Gabriel?

JOHNSON: Gabriel is in a dumpster.

MCQUEARY: No, he`s not.

JOHNSON: You want to talk to girls? That`s the price you pay. I killed d him this morning.

MCQUEARY: No, you didn`t.

JOHNSON: I couldn`t do it anymore. I couldn`t do it alone. You made it impossible for me to have my own life. You made it impossible for me to have Gabriel. You were going to take the only thing I had left. You wanted to take from me.

You wanted to make me miserable so find some new girl to make your new baby. Don`t you care about me? All you care about is Gabriel and he`s gone now. You know what I`m capable of and you pushed me anyway. You destroyed my life.

MCQUEARY: I haven`t destroyed anything.

JOHNSON: Yes, you have, Logan. You made me kill my baby boy. You made me do this.

MCQUEARY: You did not hurt Gabriel.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Disturbing clues in the desperate search for baby Gabriel.

JOHNSON: Elizabeth Johnson, 7-24-86.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A new reminder that 10-month-old Gabriel Johnson is still missing.

JOHNSON: I killed him this morning.

MCQUEARY: No, you didn`t.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: He believes Elizabeth Johnson did not hurt her baby.

MCQUEARY: I want her to be honest.

JOHNSON: You were going to take the only thing I had left. You wanted to take from me. You wanted to make me miserable. So find some new girl to make your new baby.

I don`t really know what to say. But everything is so false.

MCQUEARY: I think about it every single day whether he`s dead or alive.

JOHNSON: You made me do this.

MCQUEARY: I asked her where is he and she said that --

JOHNSON: I suffocated him and he turned blue. I put him in a diaper bag.

MCQUEARY: Put him in a diaper bag and put him in the dumpster.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNSON: I`ve seen all the interviews and everything you`ve been saying and doing throwing people under the bus and you`ve thrown me under the bus.

TAMMY SMITH: Elizabeth, you belong under the bus. You gave your baby away.

JOHNSON: To you. To you.

SMITH: You said you killed him. You said you killed the baby. So you know what America believes? That you killed the baby.

JOHNSON: Yes, I bet you`re loving that, huh?

SMITH: We`re loving that?

JOHNSON: Because it makes you look innocent.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: You know, this woman points to everybody but herself but finally a confession. Not only to a cop but to a civilian. And it`s caught on tape.

To Pat Brown, criminal profiler, author of "The Profiler." Weigh in, Pat.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "THE PROFILER": Well, I`ve always believed she killed Gabriel and I believed the police believed she`s killed Gabriel.

This woman told the freshest story in that phone call. She said exactly what she did and no evidence contradicts that whatsoever and the evidence does not support she gave the baby away.

This woman is a psychopath. She wanted attention from her boyfriend. The baby was taking it away. Other women were taking it away. She`s just blaming everybody and she is blaming the victim, her boyfriend, and she`s blaming the baby.

This is a psychopath who off`ed her child because she didn`t want him around anymore.

GRACE: Ellie Jostad, how much longer do I have to wait until this woman goes to trial?

JOSTAD: Well, Nancy, she`s going to trial next in May actually. But keep in mind, Nancy, she`s not charged with murder, anything related to the death of her baby. Right now she`s facing kidnapping charges, also custody interference charges, and child abuse.

GRACE: Let`s stop and remember Marine Sergeant Nicholas Aleman, 24, Brooklyn, New York, on a second tour served Afghanistan, awarded the National Defense Service medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal.

Left studies at Fordham to re-enlist. Lost his life the day his fiance received flowers he sent for her 23rd birthday. Loved reading and his dog Blackjack, a shelter dog. His family now cares for in his memory.

He was starting his own family. Leaves behind grieving parents Jose and Maria, sister Stephanie and Jennifer, serving army and marines, fiance Elizabeth.

Nicholas Aleman, American hero.

Thanks for our guests but especially to you for being with us and thank you out to Renee Kinemore (ph), Lovett, Texas, for this Women`s Study Bible. I`ll use it.

And a special good night to tiny crimefighter 4-year-old Gabriel. He came to meet me at one of my book signings. His dream? To be a scientist and invent a flying chair.

I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp eastern. And until then, good night, friend.

END